Conscious, Creative & Collectable: The Drops at King’s Cross a brand new outdoor fashion & lifestyle market concept
A brand new outdoor market concept ‘The Drops’, showcasing up & coming talent in fashion, homeware and lifestyle products, will premiere in Coal Drops Yard this June. As London’s home of design-led independent and established brands, Coal Drops Yard is launching this dedicated monthly fashion and lifestyle market, the first of its kind in London, to provide a platform for young brands and design talent to reach new audiences of discerning shoppers.
Curated in partnership with HemingwayDesign and the retail brands of King’s Cross, the three-day monthly market will celebrate new, emerging brands from local London neighbourhoods and the UK who do not as yet have a physical presence anywhere else in the UK.
‘The Drops’ brand was inspired by the historic King’s Cross ‘Coal Drops’, as well as the ‘drop’ of a new fashion collection or a much-anticipated record release. Taking place Friday to Sunday on the final weekend of the month, from June to December, ‘The Drops’ is set to be the go-to place to find original fashion, gifts and homewares from creative small businesses.
Every month a core collective of The Drops designers will be joined by new talent from around the UK to create a changing lineup of 40 independent fashion and lifestyle brands. The team at HemingwayDesign have spent the best part of a decade unearthing new talent with a focus on creativity, sustainability and diversity and have hand-picked each brand for The Drops to create an offer for shoppers unlike anything else in London.
Style hunters will have the chance to grab fresh and original pieces from nascent brands including Lemuel MC, Asime, Aff & Jam and Aardes.
In addition to these new exciting brand discoveries, shoppers will enjoy a buzzing market vibe. Existing Coal Drops Yard stores will bring their inside out to offer workshops and live demonstrations amidst a vibrant environment of music and live entertainment.
An introduction to a few of the brands making their debut at The Drops…
Asime are a female-led fashion brand with community and enterprise at its core. They produce colourful, contemporary women and menswear made from responsibly sourced Ghanaian textiles. 20% of their annual profits are donated to Dream Big Ghana NGO.
Discover more: asimeclothing.com
Aff & Jam, whose name is derived from Africa & Jamaica, create wearable art, with each of their pieces being carefully hand printed and painted. All of their packaging is plastics free and 100% recyclable.
Discover more: affandjam.com
Aardes creates thoughtful fashion that doesn’t come at high human or environmental costs. The fabrics are hand printed in Jaipur, India using the ancient, traditional craft of block-printing. Their aim is to keep the art of block-printing alive, to spread awareness of the skills involved and support the craftspeople who continue to use this beautiful method of printing.
Discover more: aardes.com
Birdsong London creates clothing for women who dress in protest – against the fast nature of the fashion industry, the obsessive pursuit of trends and the systematic abuse of women in the production line. Designed and handmade in the UK, they work with expert makers who face barriers to employment in the UK.
Discover more: birdsong.london
Freya Simonne is a business born out of lockdown 1. After 8 years working as a designer in the industry, for fast-fashion as well as more ‘sustainable’ brands, Freya wanted to start a fashion brand using items that people were getting rid of, stopping them from ending up in landfill. Not only helping the planet, but also creating beautiful, colourful, uplifting, fashion forward pieces in the process.
Discover more: linktr.ee/Freyasimonne
Lemuel MC was created to harness the beauty and sustainability of linen with timeless
